The actor starred in all sixfilms, and appeared in two of theCreedfilms, but he has previously admitted that while he may have created Rocky, he doesn’t own even a piece of the character.
In 1976 Sly was was paid $75K (£62K) for his original screenplay and acting fees, plus 10 net points, which earned him at least $2.5M (£2M) on the first film,according to Variety.
The original film earned £125M (£105M) at the box office- a runaway smash hit at the time.
It was nominated for 10 Oscars and won three, including Best Picture, but Stallone walked away with just his acting fee after failing to secure the rights
The rights to the franchise, plus the Creed movies, are owned by Irwin Winkler.
What has Sylvester Stallone said about the Rocky movie rights?
In November 2022, Sly talked again about how he feels about not owning the rights to the Rocky franchise.
During an interview onSiriusXM he was asked if there was any chance of “making peace” with Irwin Winkler.
“You can’t make peace with someone who’s been so, so nefarious in my, in my opinion,”Stallone said.
The actor went on to say “everyone made out well,” but no one was supposed to do better than anyone else.
Sly made it clear it’s not about the money for him, but more of him wanting to leave something from Rocky behind to his family once he’s gone.
He said: “I wrote it. I thought it would be nice to say, ‘Here’s the gesture darling here. Beautiful children, beautiful wife. When I’m long gone, this is you. This is what I made for you.’”
Sly said he and his family would never own the rights to the Rocky franchise.
Adonis "Donnie" Creed (born Adonis Johnson) is the fictional protagonist of the Creed trilogy — Creed (2015), Creed II (2018), and Creed III (2023) — the follow-up franchise to the Rocky film series. The character is played by Michael B. Jordan in all three installments.
The actor has long been galled by the fact that, as a young unknown in Hollywood, he signed a deal in which he gave up ownership of the “Rocky” franchise, which he created. (Stallone wrote the film.) Since at least 1976, Rocky's rights have been in the hands of producer Irwin Winkler.
Sylvester Stallone was paid an initial salary of $35,000 for his work acting and writing the first Rocky movie. However, considering his contract guaranteed him 10 points on the back end, he ended up earning around $2.5 million due to the film's massive success.
Stallone previously paid tribute to their decades-long friendship following news of his death. “Today is an incredibly sad day for me. I'm so torn up, I can't even tell you. I'm just trying to hold it in because Carl Weathers was such an integral part of my life, my success — everything about it.
Though Winkler admits to having not seen Stallone in over 30 years, he says the two are still “acquaintances” and share an inextricable bond even at a distance. “There is a wonderful warmth between us that I know exists, because I hear from people who do see him,” he told Mandel.
And the words Stallone is mouthing on screen are the words he wrote in 3 1/2 days and sold to producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff on the condition that he would play ''Rocky,'' and not Burt Reynolds, or James Caan, or Ryan O'Neal, who were being mentioned for the part.
Stallone turned down a major payday to star in Rocky.
"And big-name directors, when they found out I wanted to be involved, they scattered, ran for the hills." Stallone said he was offered $300,000 for the rights to Rocky, but turned it down because producers wanted a bigger name to star in the film instead.
Sylvester Stallone, the iconic American actor, screenwriter, producer, and director, has achieved a remarkable net worth of $400 million throughout his illustrious career.
So they offered Stallone up to $265,000 – around £1.4million in today's money – to let them film 'Rocky' but without Sly in the leading role. Understandably, the studio wanted the likes of Godfather actor James Caan, Robert Redford or Burt Reynolds to play the southpaw slugger.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone on becoming friends after being rivals. The two action stars once had a rivalry in the '80s. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone reflected on their friendship throughout their careers as the top Hollywood action stars.
Sage had several movie roles as a child actor, making his screen debut as Rocky Jr. in his father's boxing sequel Rocky V. In the recent Netflix documentary Sly, director John Herzfeld explains that Stallone cast his own son in the movie to help him get started in acting.
“We lost a legend yesterday. My life was forever changed for the better the day I met Carl Weathers. Rest in power and keeping punching,” Stallone captioned an Instagram video posted on Feb.
Then, while working on “Happy Days,” Winkler was offered the lead role in “Grease” over John Travolta but turned it down out of fear of being typecast. “I am a damn fool,” the 77-year-old actor said. “I only realized years afterwards. I thought, I've played the Fonz, I don't want to do it again.”
The good-natured bromance between Statham and Stallone's characters grounded all The Expendables movies, and the two have formed a close friendship offscreen too. In 2013, Stallone co-produced and wrote Homefront for Statham, an action thriller about a retired DEA agent facing off against a vicious drug dealer.
Stallone — who wrote the screenplay for the film in three days, before selling the rights to producers Winkler and Robert Chartoff — said his anger came from the fact that the original deal deprived him of an equity stake in the franchise, a longterm asset that could be passed to his children after his death.
Ref. The Directors Guild of America awarded Rocky its annual award for best film of the year in 1976, and in 2006, Sylvester Stallone's original screenplay for Rocky was selected by the Writers Guild of America as the 78th best screenplay of all time.
As well as doing his own stunts, Stallone has previously revealed that one fight scene in Rocky IV could have killed him after things got a bit too real during filming. Fans of the franchise may remember that Rocky IV saw the boxer take on steroid-using Russian Ivan Drago (played by Dolph Lundgren).
Address: 58866 Tricia Spurs, North Melvinberg, HI 91346-3774
Phone: +50616620367928
Job: Real-Estate Liaison
Hobby: Graffiti, Astronomy, Handball, Magic, Origami, Fashion, Foreign language learning
Introduction: My name is Lilliana Bartoletti, I am a adventurous, pleasant, shiny, beautiful, handsome, zealous, tasty person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.
